


Blank Keys

by BluePlanetTrash



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Blind Character, Blind Lance (Voltron), Bullied Lance (Voltron), Bullying, Disabled Character, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 06:21:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13452336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: Lance was blind. Lance was a music major and Lance was bullied. Now he wanted to help people with what he could. That's all there is to it.





	Blank Keys

Ever since they could remember; the five of them had been together. Shiro, Keith, Hunk, Pidge, and Allura. They had met when they all ended up living in the same small cul-de-sac in town. Shiro and Keith had always lived there but slowly their older neighbours either started moving away or passed away and the houses were filled with small families instead. Soon they were joined by the Garret’s, Holt’s, and finally the Prince’s. Since they were used to living surrounded by quiet elderly people, they were excited to finally have kids their age to play with.

Their friendship was so great that they decided to leave town altogether and go to Altea University in the small town of Arus. They went through their first two years eagerly and without incident, waiting until they could all afford to rent out a house near the campus together. Finally, during their third year, they were able to do just that.

One night they decided to go to their favourite restaurant; Joe’s for scott’s skins and a beer before the weekend was over. As they were leaving they started hearing some yelling and a bit of scuffling as they passed one of the alleys beside Joe’s. When they peered down, they immediately burst into action.

There were two men, one pushing a younger man against the wall and the other holding a blue backpack in his arms. He looked to be their age. He had short brown hair and dark skin. Surprisingly he didn’t look at all perturbed by what was going on. His head however whipped up when he heard more footsteps racing down the alley.

“Get off of him!” Shiro yelled. Just his voice startled the men enough to let go of him. The other man dropped the bag from his hands and darted away. Without a backup, the man gritted his teeth and chased after him, leaving the six of them in the alley. Hunk swooped to pick up the backpack and handed it to the guy with a smile on his face.

“Thank you so much!” He said gleefully, hugging the bag to his chest. “My name is Lance,” he said holding out his hand.

“Hunk,” he replied grasping the hand tightly and dragging Lance in for a hug. “Are you okay?” He asked with concern as he pulled back.

“What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” he assured him with a grin. He turned to where the others were shuffling their feet.

“What are your names?” He asked. Happily, they gave them their names and found that it was easy to strike up a conversation with him. Shortly after they left Lance in the alleyway after he assured them that he was completely fine and he actually wasn’t very far from his house. They waved at the man as they left, not at all concerned by the fact that Lance never waved back.

They never asked why he was wearing sunglasses at nine o’clock in the evening.

* * *

They didn’t see Lance again for a few weeks after first encountering him in the alley. To be honest he kind of slipped their mind after a few days. They didn’t see him again at Joe’s or anywhere around town and gradually forgot about that night in the alley. That is until they saw the familiar backpack next to the equally familiar boy that sat on a bench on Altea’s campus. With smiles, they rushed over to him, a cloud of loud noise surrounding them. Lance looked up at them startled and his head darted between them.

“Who are you?” He asked, silencing the noise instantly. They glanced at each other uncertainly before their eyes returned to Lance.

“We helped you in the alley a few weeks back,” Shiro answered.

“You don’t recognize us?” Hunk asked right after. They watched as his face relaxed in recognition and he let out a bark of laughter. He gestured at his sunglasses.

“Guys, I’m blind,” he said flippantly. Their jaws dropped and they started spitting out apologizes all the while Lance was laughing and trying to get them to stop.

“I’m surprised the sunglasses didn’t give it away,” Lance exclaimed.

“I thought you were some sort of hipster or something,” Keith admitted to the mummers of agreements of his friends. It was true, Lance’s sunglasses weren’t the usual ones they had seen on people in movies and in pictures. He wore winged frame glasses with rose gold reflective lenses.

“Is it the glasses? My sister picked them out not too long ago,” he asked pushing them up his nose slightly.

“Mostly yes, they look really good!” Allura said, taking the chance to sit down beside him.

“Thanks, she thought so too!”

Over the next hour, they sat surrounding the bench and learned more about Lance. They discovered that he actually attending Altean University and was in their year. It wasn’t a surprise that they had never met Lance since they attend one of the most popular universities in the country but they had to admit that Lance stuck out. He was majoring in music, something that none of them ever had a course in. He played the piano and was a singer as well.

He was simply one of the most bubbly people they had ever met and they couldn’t help but let that happiness overcome themselves as well. They left that bench together to eat and didn’t split up again until the sun was starting to set. It didn’t take long at all to become a part of their group. He felt like the piece that they never knew was missing.

It became commonplace to walk to Lance’s house and walk with him to campus in the morning and go to the music building to wait for Lance to finish practicing after their classes were finished just so they could hear him play and sing. That’s when they met Dr. Smythe, Lance’s professor. Although, he told them to simply call him Coran since they were Lance’s friends. Suddenly they knew where he had been getting some of his personality from, it was contagious. They would sit silently beside Coran, talking about their other professors and work they had coming up until Lance walked out of the practice room. He always seemed surprised to hear them there and always told them that they didn’t need to wait for him anymore. It was true that he practiced a lot and for a very long time at some points. They understood that about music though, it took a lot of patience and practice to become as good as possible, and they wanted that for Lance.

They never questioned Lance’s blindness either. They had just assumed that he had been blind from birth. They weren’t about to ask about it either, they didn’t think that Lance would mind but they didn’t want to pry either.

“Hey Lance, what colour are your eyes?” Pidge asked one evening while they were hanging around their house (which they affectionately named Voltron).

“Hmm…” he trailed off. “Last time I checked my sister said that they were still the same colour, blue,” he answered stretching his arms above his head tiredly.

“Still the same colour?” Shiro asked in confusion as he walked into the room. He had a tray of muffins in his mitted hands and walked around the room letting everyone grab one.

“Well, yeah, I wasn’t always blind,” Lance smiled as if it was obvious.

“Wait, what?” Hunk gasped at the revelation and sat up from where he was slumped against the couch.

“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking?” Pidge added frantically at the end.

“It’s fine Pidge, it happened a while ago,” he said turning to sit instead of laying on the couch.

“When I was in my first year of high school, I was bullied really bad by this guy, I have no idea what his problem was with me and I really just tried to avoid him at all cost, it wasn’t like I was alone either, I had friends that were around me whenever they could and teachers kept an eye on him but he still found times when he could attack me,” he started with a sigh, his shoulders were visibly drooping as he began his story. They couldn’t imagine someone like Lance being bullied, but then again, anyone could be bullied without much explanation.

“They talked to him, they threatened him with suspensions but no matter what they did he always came back, then one day during a chemistry lab he came up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and threw something in my face,”

There were horrified gasps around the room, and Lance gave them a grim smile.

“I kind of passed out not long after that, but I could hear him laughing as I was blacking out, I found out later that my friend knocked him out and he was arrested as I was being taken to the hospital, I never found out what happened to him but I don’t really care either,” he spat bitterly. He sunk into Hunk’s arm as he wrapped it around Lance’s shoulders.

“I already decided at that point to pursue music and made sure that I worked twice as hard to become one of the best, so that way if he ever sees me again he’ll know that he didn’t ruin my life like he thought he did,” he declared in determination. They didn’t doubt it. They had only known Lance for a few months and they already saw how strong his resolve was.

Every time they heard him play, they would get lost in the music just like he seemed to. They would sit mesmerized as his fingers floated over the keys. Sometimes it was jarring that they were friends with someone this talented and not just watching someone playing piano on Youtube. Which led them the idea to suggest putting up his performances on Youtube.

At first, Lance was a little nervous with the idea, he didn’t know how anything like that worked and he didn’t think he would be able to manage. They reminded him that Shiro and Hunk were studying in filming and Pidge was studying media arts. All he had to do, was play. It took a little cajoling from Coran for him to work up the courage to finally post his first video; a cover of Praying by Kesha filmed in one of the school’s practice rooms.

It was by no means a swift victory. They started putting out videos every week, with a different variety of song each week. He switched between covers of songs and original compositions that he would keep a secret from his friends until the day they filmed. With Allura’s and Keith’s business courses they were able to book other spaces to film as well as help manage any kind business that came his way in the form of sponsorships or anything of the like.

Along with the rush of subscribers that he started gaining, there also came a fair amount of hate. As expected, Lance was able to take it in stride as well as a little bit of sarcasm.

 _“_ It sucks to  _see_ how many people don’t like my videos,” which ended with a cackle from him.

They were always overshadowed by the overwhelming support that Lance had though. As well as the inspired videos that were set to Lance by musicians who also had disabilities and became motivated because of Lance. 

His first viral video came when he decided to share his story during Bullying Awareness and Prevention Month. He had never been gladder that people knew his story then right then because it made a change in how people saw each other. It changed how they looked at harassing others and they stepped up to change something.

He started out as a musician with a story of torment but he started becoming a voice to the people that had been hurt. He told them that they didn’t need to stay on the ground where they were stomped down. He told them that they can rise up and become something that they didn’t think they would be able to. He told them that there was always someone they could help, someone that needed their help.

They started getting calls from schools in the area that wanted him to come in and talk to their students and tell him his story and how he overcame everything. Lance saw the chance to help and he took it, taking his music and his friends along with him.

Lance had already taken the steps he needed to get where he wanted to go. He had already proved himself as someone who wouldn’t give up. Now he had the people he needed to help him along the way and now he had a mission to change the way people view each other and themselves. Disability or no disability, we’re all humans.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me at my Tumblr too!: https://blueplanettrash.tumblr.com/


End file.
